


Warmth

by anotherfngrl



Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Couch Cuddles, Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Cuddling & Snuggling, Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Protective Aziraphale (Good Omens), Snake Crowley (Good Omens)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29667891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotherfngrl/pseuds/anotherfngrl
Summary: Cuddling on the couch after a long day? Crowley would NEVER.It's not his fault snakes are naturally drawn to warmth, and Aziraphale radiates it in more ways than one.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2021





	Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> An OLD comment fic prompt for any pairing, that just screamed these two to me! I hope you like it! I'd love to hear from you!!

It's been a quiet day in the bookshop, which is Aziraphale's favorite sort. He's only had to chase out a few customers intent on buying his precious volumes, and even sold a school reader copy of one of Will's works to a particularly bright young lady- he makes a point of keeping some books he's willing to part with near the front of the store, just as a pretext. And even now, he's a champion of Shakespeare's work.

So when the door opens with a rather heavy slam just as it's getting close enough to six that he can almost justify closing early, he's quite annoyed. He steps into the main area of the bookshop with a scowl on his face, ready to remonstrate the delinquent shopper about their treatment of his shop- he certainly won't be letting someone who treats doors like that leave with any books!

His recriminations stop in his throat when he sees who it is. It's Crowley, looking more than a bit worse for the wear. He's somehow both wetly bedraggled and looking vaguely singed around the edges.

"Oh dear me," Aziraphale says, rushing to lock the shop door and get a good look at his friend. "What has happened to you?"

"Don't wanna talk about it," Crowley tells him grumpily.

Aziraphale tuts. "Well, one look at you is all it takes to see that you've been rather through the wars, this afternoon. Perhaps a nice cuppa?"

Crowley frowns at him. "I don't want tea," he sneers disdainfully. Aziraphale supposes he should've seen that one coming- the beverage is incredibly soothing, he finds, but Crowley tends more toward excess and self destruction than soothing, when he's had a rough one. And today looks to have been spectacularly bad.

"Wine, then?" he offers, walking toward the kitchenette to fetch a bottle. Crowley follows him without comment. Aziraphale is genuinely starting to grow concerned about his friend. Crowley rarely lets anything keep him down.

He takes the bottle into the sitting area, uncorking it and pouring them each a glass. Crowley drains his immediately.

"Would you like more, dear one?" Aziraphale offers, sitting down on the sofa.

"No, I bloody well wouldn't. I'd like-" And here Crowley stops quite abruptly. Whatever he wants or needs, he doesn't know how to articulate it. Perhaps doesn't even know what it is.

"Anything you need, my dear snake. You know that," Aziraphale assures him.

Crowley quite suddenly makes his words literal, shifting into his snake form and sliding out of his clothes. Aziraphale smiles. This, he can work with.

He stretches out across the couch to create an inviting lap, reaching for the lamp on the end table, the bulb in which he's replaced with a heating one for the sake of his reptilian friend, and switching it on. He aims it at himself and reaches for a book, settling in to do a spell of reading.

And if he just happens to do that reading with a sweet little snake curled up in his lap, so much the better. Once Crowley has settled, Aziraphale allows one of his hands to slowly meander down to his friend, gently rubbing his scales.

He doesn't speak as he strokes Crowley, doesn't in any way acknowledge what they're doing. Neither of them would quite know what to do with that. With an actual conversation about their relationship and what they do for one another, the ways in which they need each other that go far beyond The Arrangement.

Crowley would never sulk into the shop after a hard day and demand Aziraphale hold him. He would never throw his long limbed body across a shorter, softer one on the couch, or curl up with his head on Aziraphale's thigh and allow his hair to be stroked. And that's okay. Because like this, as a snake, he can justify it as just a natural inclination to seek out warmth. Aziraphale's petting is merely absent tactile sensation, not a consciously done show of affection. And so it's okay, and it's enough, for now.

Through time and space, however Earth and its humans have developed and will continue to develop, there is one constant in Aziraphale and Crowley's world: they will always have each other to come back to, after a bad day. And that's quite a marvelous thing indeed.


End file.
